Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III is the confirmed keynote speaker for the fourth International Outsourcing Summit. Mr. Aquino will speak to approximately 500 delegates and 70 speakers and panelists on the final day of the Summit in its concluding plenary.

This will be the second year that Mr. Aquino will speak at the IOS. His acceptance comes on the heels of a widely respected and closely watched global report showing that the Philippines has dramatically improved its national competitiveness in the first two years of his administration. The Philippines has moved up 22 places since 2009 in the Global Competitiveness Report to 65 among 144 economies surveyed.

The annual survey is conducted and published by the Switzerland-based World Economic Forum. This year’s increase in ranking puts the Philippines in the top half of the countries reviewed for the first time.

“[Corruption and red tape] are finally being addressed decisively,” the report said. “The macroeconomic environment also exhibits marked improvement (36th, up 18) and represents one of the strongest aspects of the Philippines’ performance, along with the market size pillar (35th).” The report also cited improvement in financial sector efficiency and support of business activity, moving up to 58th place, an improvement of 13 places.

The Philippines is the world’s number one provider of voice-based IT-BPO services, and has emerged as a preferred supplier of complex, non-voice services in a wide range of business processes and verticals. Non-voice services accounted for more than 30% of Philippine IT-BPO industry revenues of $11 billion in 2011. The Philippines’ share of the Global IT-BPO market is approximately 13%.

The Aquino administration has been a strong supporter of the industry. Last year, Mr. Aquino announced funding of P500 million (US$11.6 million) to support training of knowledge workers for the industry. A stable supply of qualified labor is among the top concerns of IT-BPO executives, who believe that the industry can continue to grow between 20% and 25% annually if labor supply is sustained.